Following the shooting of a well’s guard in the town of al-Qrayya in Suweida by shepherds from Busra al-Harir, north of Daraa, tensions re-erupted between the two governorates.
The shepherds fired at the guard of the well after he prevented them from putting their sheep to graze in the town.
The guard Janah al-Safadi was wounded and taken to the hospital after the ambulance car was involved in a traffic accident, injuring the medical staff and escorts.
“A tense situation had arisen in the area, and the residents of al-Qrayya gathered at the guesthouse of Sultan Basha al-Atrash to discuss the impacts of this attack,” Rayan al-Jabal, a pseudonym for a politician from Suweida, said.
“Groups of the Men of Dignity and some armed groups arrived to express their solidarity with al-Qrayya and denounce what happened,” Jabal added.
This escalation, “followed the incident of February 28, when armed men, who were riding a bike, kidnapped the two young men, Nash’at Harb and Jihad Elwan, from the village of Ara, and took them to Daraa,” according to him.
“The trader Watheq al-Shofi, known by the residents of Daraa and Suweida, was kidnapped with Ramah Shalghin, who was released after the kidnappers realized he had been a military member,” Jabal noted.
He pointed out that the families of the abductees accused the Bedouin clans led by Jamal al-Bala of the abduction.
On March 1, a meeting was held in the city of Bosra with the participation of a delegation from Suweida including the Emir of Ara Lu’ay al-Atrash the Security Relations Coordinator for the Russian forces in the southern region Imad al-Aqabani, and Sheikh Abu Tha’er Awad al-Miqdad from Bosra.
The meeting concluded reaching an agreement to “ban shepherds from entering al-Qrayya and intensify the guardianship by the Fifth Corps near the borders between the two regions,” according to Jabal.
Jabal concluded that the Lebanese Hezbollah has been the most affected by the reconciliation reached in 2020 between Daraa and Suweida, trying its best to impede it.
In 2020, a tension between Suweida and Daraa escalated when the Russian-backed Eighth Brigade, headed by Ahmad al-Awda, seized parts of al-Qrayya.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
